Steelers Alejandro Villanueva Wears Military Veteran’s Name On His Helmet: Why he was right to do it

On Monday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers honored the memory of Antwon Rose Jr.

Except one.

The one is Alejandro Villanueva, offensive tackle for the Steelers, and formally a captain in the United States Army.

Villanueva choose to honor the memory of a fellow fallen soldier, Alwyn Cashe.

Cashe is and forever a hero. People are going nuts that Villanueva did this. I know that everybody is supposed to fall in line and do what they are told when it comes to fighting racial injustice.

I get it!

But to go after Villanueva because he honored a real-life American hero?

That’s mind-blowing to me.

Why was Cashe a hero?

Alwyn Cashe enlisted in the US Army following his high school graduation in 1988. He was an infantryman and served tours of duty in the 1991 Gulf War, and in Iraq following the 2003 invasion prior to his tour with the 3rd Infantry Division. The story about what Cashe did in 2005 is beyond heroic and something they make movies about. It was amazing that nobody would believe it was true.

As acting Platoon Sergeant of 1st Platoon of Alpha Company from Forward Operating Base Mackenzie, Sergeant First Class Cashe departed Forward Operating Base (FOB) Mackenzie October 17, 2005, on a route clearance mission in the city of Daliaya, Iraq.

Cashe was in the lead Bradley Fighting Vehicle when it struck an Improvised Explosive Device, rupturing the vehicle’s fuel cell, covering Cashe in fuel, and causing the vehicle to burst into flames. Cashe, initially slightly injured, exited the vehicle and assisted the vehicle’s driver to exit the burning Bradley and extinguish the flames on his clothes. Six soldiers and an interpreter remained in the rear of the vehicle, which was in flames. Cashe moved to the rear of the vehicle and reached into the flames to remove injured soldiers, while his fuel-soaked uniform burned. He dragged rescued soldiers from the burning vehicle, returning multiple times to continue to pull troops from the burning vehicle, all the while afire himself. Cashe rescued 6 soldiers from the flames and denied medical evacuation until others were evacuated. The interpreter was killed in the action, with 10 soldiers wounded, 7 severely.

Cashe was burned over 72% of his body. He succumbed to his injuries on November 8, 2005, at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was survived by his wife and children.

If Cashe is not the definition of a hero, I don’t know who is.

The case of Antwon Rose Jr.

Should Antwon Rose have even been honored by the Steelers? Rose is being made out as a victim, was in fact not. He was in a car that matched the description involved in a drive-by shooting. When cops stopped the car that Rose was driving, Rose vacated the car and began to flee and the officer shot and killed him.

The officer was later found not guilty.

Mr. Rosfeld, the officer charged, told investigators he stopped the car because it matched the description of a vehicle involved in a drive-by shooting a short time earlier in North Braddock. That information is relevant because the officer knew it at the time of the shooting, Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Daniel Fitzsimmons said in a motion.

But the fact that the North Braddock shooting was caught on video and shows someone in the back seat of the car firing 13 times out the rear window is irrelevant, Fitzsimmons wrote.

It’s also irrelevant that the gun used in that shooting was found in the back seat of the car, in addition to the gun found under the front passenger seat, where Antwon was riding, Mr. Fitzsimmons’ motion argued.

The back seat passenger, Zaijuan Hester, now 18, was charged in the drive-by. Rose had something to do with the shooting and fled the scene, and yet the Steelers still choose to honor him.

That information should be what angers people, not Villanueva honoring a true American hero.